Coming to Terms
by ScrtSolstice
Summary: Ginny is quick to go head to head with Draco when most back away - but is it something else? The two decide to give it a shot without much of a background with each other, but what will happen when life throws them lemons? Might as well dive head first if you are going to tame a dragon... right? - D/G in slight AU, M for language and potential adult content in later chapters.
1. Intro

Ginny had always admired the way that he had the ability to effect people with little effort. She snuck a glance at Draco Malfoy while he wandered down one of the many great hallways. He was pushing his peers out of his way with a simple glance, and the mere thought of that power stirred her insides. As quickly as she had looked up she returned her glance to the book in her hands – two scrolls for History of Magic was due tomorrow and she was not going to let Hermione be the only one known for her intelligence. Of course the fact that she would rather not share a stare down with Malfoy also helped her from procrastinating any further.

She heard his steps approaching quickly as she turned to the next page, noting in the margins as her eyes scanned the page for more information about the work of witches in the 1800s. The footsteps slowed and then ceased their noise a moment later; the silence interrupted by a male clearing his throat – she could only assume that it was the blonde Slytherin.

"Going to move, Weasley?" He said abruptly. His tone was harsh and she did not appreciate it – especially since she was sitting on a bench on the edge of the hall. Even if he wanted to he couldn't get anywhere by walking onto the bench.

"I'm sitting on a bench against a wall… what would be the point? Unless you've suddenly gained an ability to turn benches into doorways, I'm going to continue on this parchment." The sass in her response was quick witted and she furthered it by only looking up at the end of her statement. Just in time too as she caught what appeared to be a face of disbelief washing over his before it disappeared as quickly as it had popped up.

"It's called sitting, Weasley. Have you gone as mental as your brothers? Here I thought your intelligence was spared from whatever they contracted."

"That almost sounded like a compliment, Malfoy. I'm surprised you feel that way about me." She smirked at this last bit, staring straight into his eyes as the left side of her smile curved upwards. "You're welcome to join me if you like," she continued as she slid over and patted the new space beside her.

Goyle quickly stepped forward to take action, but much to everyone's surprise Malfoy put his arm up to stop him and even pushed him back slightly. He stepped closer to Ginny, closing the gap between them and quickly leaning over her should to whisper in her ear.

"You're pretty quick witted for someone of your stature," he said silently before belted out to all, "now get out of my way." He hadn't bothered to learn away from her first so the sharp sound cut into her ears with how loud it was. She hadn't expected the sudden change and she jumped slightly before starting to pack up her things. Today wasn't the day to pick fights with Draco Malfoy – she just wanted to finish this damn paper outside of the library, where she knew Dean Thomas would be looking for her.

"Whatever, Malfoy," she said as she stood upwards. "Take the damn bench. I have better things to worry about." He smirked as she started to walk away from him, he felt as though he had won. "Oh… and Malfoy?"

"Yes, tattered robes?"

"Kindly go fuck yourself before you challenge me again." His smirk vanished as he fell backwards onto the bench. She didn't bother to turn around, she didn't need to. They both knew that she had won this battle of the wits. Ginny kept walking down the corridor to find a new place to work, maybe Malfoy was onto something with his harassment – was pestering her as much fun for him as verbal sparring with him was for her?


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters portrayed in this Fan Fiction; JKR is the brilliant mastermind of these characters/pawns in this chess game. This piece of work is entirely fictional and has not been created to step on any toes or generate revenue. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Any additional outside resources or quotes used will be linked and given proper credit. Spoilers for all Harry Potter material may be included and it is strongly suggested that you do not read this unless you have read the books or do not care about things being spoiled for you.

* * *

A week had gone by since Ginny had seen Draco, and she couldn't decide if she cared one way or another. She had interacted with him plenty of times in the past – sure – but this time something had seem almost friendly about their tit for tat. Sure to others it probably seemed as if someone was finally standing up to Draco's shit, but for her it felt like she was finally equals with someone.

Being excluded from the Golden Trio before and during the war was one thing, but to continue to be left out post war was quite another. She had hoped that once everything had died down it would have gone back to the way things were before – back to when the four of them had gotten along – back to before things had gotten so tense. Harry had tried to give it a shot with her after the war had ended but he had been too caught up in everything around him, opting to forgo his seventh year and instead become an Auror. Most students who had been given the opportunity to skip the year they missed had jumped at it, but it wasn't the same opportunity for everyone.

Anyone who had been in their seventh year during the Second Wizarding War had been told that they could either redo the year or opt for a standing granted and just graduate with a pass. Those who had been in sixth year or lower were advised to retake the year that had been replace with war and death for fear that nothing had been learned. And those who had been on the opposing side were not given a choice at all; Ginny had assumed this would create further backlash from Malfoy… which was why her reaction to their earlier brawl could have been viewed as over the top. She had expected him to fight more, to be more overbearing. Instead she got standard Malfoy – only she had over compensated to expect the worst.

Due to her strong part in the war, Ginny had been given the option to skip ahead to her seventh year. Although the offer had originally piqued her interest, she opted to stay with her friends in the same year. Sixth and Seventh years often had merged classes anyway as class sizes were often smaller thanks to specializations, but there was something that stood out to Ginny as a reason for staying. She had missed a key point of sixth year and that was her friends.

With the war going on the majority of her close friends were forced to choose sides and often they found themselves on the opposing team. It wasn't like Ginny to dislike anyone so it was only natural that some of her friends were Slytherin and that their families fell on the other side. And of course being on the other side does not grant you the ability to skip a year – Ginny's mind was set. And so it was –the golden trio moved ahead, Ginny's friends avoided swapping war stories, and here she was defending herself with the blood of her family's enemy family.

It would be a lot to come to terms with for anyone, but now that she thought sparring with him was fun… now that she considered herself an equal… in some ways anyway – this year was going to be a hot mess. Nevertheless it was onward and upward, a lot to think about – sure – but there was parchment to be written on and classes to go to, kitchens to be snuck down to and extracurricular activities. If anything this tête-à-tête with Malfoy was going to be a highlight of the year; that's what concerned her the most.

The last interaction Ginny had with the opposite sex, aside from the horde of her brothers, was Harry. Let's face it – to say that didn't end well was an understatement. He knew he was going to leave, he had planned it out. He couldn't trust himself he said, there would be too many temptations at the ministry he said, he wanted to use his celebrity to its full potential he said… in his owl. The boy-who-lived couldn't have even said it to her face, couldn't have lived through a breakup so he had sent Ron's owl to do the dirty work. If anything that just made it worse – thinking it was a family matter and finding out that not only did Ron also know it was coming but that he helped facilitate it.

The next few months had been awkward for the whole family. Ginny didn't want to put up with Harry or Ron during their weekly Weasley dinners so she mostly kept to herself on Sundays. This of course caused an issue with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley senior, but the former of the pair seemed to have some understanding of her resistance to being around Harry after the avian events. The Mrs. had a different opinion of course – Ginny never felt like her mother blamed her directly, but there was always the feeling that Mrs. Weasley thought that if Ginny had accepted the free pass that her and Harry would have worked it out.

Shame really – that had set her up for instant karma failure right off the bat. She had tried to go on a few dates to rid her of the denial, but ended standing up each one. Ginny would make it to the meeting place, hide off in the corner, and watch as her new matches came, waited, and eventually left. None of them had the same presence as Harry and she did not want to get into it again without being sure that they could stand up to her mother – their reactions about being stood up told her how far they would go. None of them made it passed the first "date."

Lost in her thoughts about the past, Ginny never saw the oncoming traffic headed towards her as she mindlessly shuffled her way to class. Little did she know that she was about to be run into intentionally, and there was nothing she could do as she felt an elbow forcefully collide with her left shoulder. Ginny's body spun counter-clockwise as her books and parchments spilled around her in every direction. Having not been prepared, her bodily easily fell off its balance and she began to fall backwards towards the hall's stone floor as she struggled to brace herself for the inevitable.

A hand quickly reached out and grabbed her right forearm just past her wrist, but at the rate she had fallen it came too late and she pulled her would be savior down with her. Ginny had assumed that she would fall anyway given the speed at which everything at happened, so she hadn't reciprocated the wrist grabbing. She felt the cold cobbles as her backside slammed into them and then scratched up her back as the new body came down on top of her, pushing her backwards against the floor.

Laughter echoed through the hall – Ginny couldn't help it, the whole situation was hilarious! She hadn't meant to dwell so much that a collision would happen, never mind another student being half on top of her. The thought made her laugh so hard that she didn't even stop to make sure that it was in fact a student that had ended up being her upper bunk. The realization of this caught her off guard and she silenced herself as quickly as she had fallen. Gathering her composure she placed the hand that had been covering her mouth back behind her to brace her and sit up, and as she did she opened her eyes to check her surroundings. Luckily for her there were not many people around – class had already started so the halls were mainly empty – but there staring back at her were the silvery eyes of Draco Malfoy.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I feel like the tense jumps around in this one. To be honest and blunt, I am just writing this to keep my mind off of some other things (and I think I mentioned I don't have a beta) so there may be grammatical errors - not sure I care too much. Feel free to let me know if they bother you; I can always change them.


End file.
